Finding A Way
by Rachel Evans
Summary: When Natalie(OC) is in a terrible car accident, she somehow gets sent to the LotR world. I know, I know. Cleche, but this wont have any romance in it. PG, for now.


Authors Notes: Hello everyone, and welcome to my first ever Lord of the Rings story. I'm glad you chose to read my story and I will not bore you with too many notes. I just have to get one thing straight - I've only read the books once and seen the movies a million times, so it may be a little more like the movies, but I'll try to stay as close to the books as possible. Thank you.  
  
Disclaimer: I never have and probably never will own Lord of the Rings. *shi no sigh*  
  
Prologue  
  
Natalie sighed as she dropped her backpack on her bedroom floor. She's had a long day - one of the busiest days of the week for her.  
  
Every morning she would get up at 5:30 and get ready for school, which included taking a shower and making breakfast for her younger sister.  
  
After that she would drop her sister off at the local middle school and head over to Beaver Falls High.  
  
On this day, after school she would go to work at the florist a few blocks away from her school. She would work there Monday, Wednesday, Friday and all day Saturday. Today was Friday and she also went to Karate from 7- 8:30.  
  
Finally, she would get home around 9 and do her homework. On a normal day she would be done around 10:45-11, and in bed by 12.  
  
Sitting down at her desk, she began her homework, which wasn't hard, and was finished around 10 or so, which was when her sister came to bed. Natalie kissed the 12 year old and went to the living room to sit with her mom.  
  
"What did the doctor say?" Natalie asked as she sat down next to her mom and hugged her.  
  
"They said that the biopsy tested positive for cancer and that I need to start treatment right away." The woman's eyes seemed to suddenly become glossier. "The cancer has spread very far and if the chemo and radiation don't stop it soon, they'll have to remove everything." A tear ran down the single-mother's face.  
  
Natalie put an arm around her mother. "It's going to be alright, Mommy. Remember, God's in control."  
  
Natalie's mother looked at her oldest daughter and smiled. "I know. Thank you for reminding me."  
  
They sat there for a few minutes, embracing each-other and finally her mother pulled away.  
  
"You should probably get to sleep. It's nearly 11."  
  
"Alright. Goodnight." Natalie said as she kissed her mom.  
  
"Goodnight, sweetie. I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
When Natalie got into bed finally, she pulled the covers up over her head and began to silently cry.  
  
"God," she whispered through silent sobs, "Why did you have to let this happen? You already took daddy, why do you need her too?"  
  
Eventually, Natalie fell asleep, her face all sticky from tears.  
  
That night, Natalie had a strange dream....  
  
~*~  
  
She was wandering through a forest, minding her own business, when she saw three boys walking across a field. They all carried bags, and one even had some pots and pans hanging from his bag. She found it peculiar and decided to talk to them, but before she reached them, the flashed to another, of the boys getting into bed at some kind of motel or something. Then it flashed again to four darkly dressed men driving swords into the small bundles in the beds.  
  
She tried to scream, but she couldn't, but she heard a blood-curdling scream come from all four of the men.  
  
The sound was completely unbearable for her ears and she fell to the ground with her hands over her ears and her eyes held tightly shut.  
  
Finally, the screaming subsided. Carefully, she opened her eyes and saw her room. The light was on and her mother was sitting on her sisters bed, cradling the 12 year old.  
  
~*~  
  
"Shhh. It's okay, Megan. I'm here. Mommy's here."  
  
Natalie walked up to her mother and sister.  
  
"Another night-terror?" she asked. Her mother nodded.  
  
Natalie sighed mournfully. Ever since that day... That day, 11 months, 14 days, 12 hours ago... the day their father died, Megan kept having these awful, terrible dreams. No one knew what they were about. Megan never wanted to talk about it. The doctor called them "night-terrors". He said that when having a night terror one believed everything that was happening was real. He said that it was very difficult to wake someone up from one, but it had to be done. He recommended that Megan saw a physiatrist, but that wasn't helping. All they said was that, because Megan witnessed the death of their father, she would probably continue to have these dreams until she faces what happened. So Megan was still seeing Doctor Marigan for therapy. It's been about 8 months since she started, and there have been less dreams like that, but there still are some from time to time, especially since they found out that their mom may have breast-cancer. Megan didn't know yet that it was confirmed.  
  
"I'll go put on some tea." Natalie said and walked over to the kitchen of their one-story house.  
  
She filled the teapot with water and set it one the burner. Turning on the oven, she realized what time it was, 4:51.  
  
The blond sighed. "I guess I'll just get an early start." she said quietly and started making a small breakfast for herself.  
  
When the kettle began to whistle, Natalie took her sister's mug out of the cabinet and filled it with the hot water and placed a chamomile tea bag and some sugar in the mug.  
  
Carefully, she stirred the brew and brought it to Megan, who was still in her mother's arms.  
  
"Thank you, Natalie." Her mother said as she took the mug.  
  
"No problem."  
  
About 40 minutes later Natalie had finished her breakfast, taken a shower and had gotten dressed - she was wearing a pair of green low-rise cargo pants with a white spaghetti-strapped tank-top, and heavy brown sneakers. Her blond hair was pulled up into a pony-tail.  
  
Since today was Saturday, Natalie grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and her portable CD player and 50 CD holder from her bedroom and stuffed them in her backpack along with other various books, such as Hamlet and her Physics book.  
  
It was now 5:20 and Natalie didn't know what to do with herself. What could she do for a half-hour at 5:30 in the morning?  
  
Well, at least she was ready to go. Today, she was going to visit a friend an hour away and then go to the library to work on a paper, but her friend wasn't expecting to meet her until 7; they were both morning people.  
  
Then, it came to her. She would take a walk.  
  
Natalie pushed the headphones' cord through the hole in her backpack and plugged them into the CD player. She then picked out a CD to listen to. Shuffling through the pages of her CD holder, she found what she was looking for - Point Of Grace: Steady On.*  
  
Putting the CD into the player, she pressed play, put the headphones into her ears, and gingerly walked outside, making sure to lock the door behind her.  
  
~*~  
  
After walking for about 20 minutes, Natalie decided to head back home. The only thing standing between her and home was Randolph Street** - the busiest street in her small town.  
  
There were virtually no crosswalks in the small town of Athens NY, so Natalie just had to go when it was clear.  
  
Cautiously, Natalie looked both ways and no car seemed to be in site, so she stepped out.  
  
Suddenly, a car came speeding around the corner and before either driver or pedestrian could react the car collided with Natalie's frail body.  
  
Natalie screamed as her body rode up the car and into the windshield. She felt pain everywhere, especially in her head.  
  
She opened her eyes to see the horrified face of the driver who was groping around for their cell phone.  
  
Natalie felt her eyelids get heavy and fought to keep them open, but the battle was lost and she surrendered to unconsciousness.  
  
~*~  
  
Authors Notes: So, what did you think? Don't worry, the LotR characters will be in the next chapter. At least one. ^_^ Now, please be kind enough to click the little review button at the bottom of the page so I know whether or not it's worth writing and posting more. ^_^  
  
Footnotes:  
  
*I don't own it  
  
**I don't know if that's the main street in Athens. I'll have to ask my sister, but she's not home right now and I really want this up. ^_^ 


End file.
